Review: 2 Crows Lil' Miguel Nitro Aztec Stout (12/11/2019 Version)

I remember the very first time I ever heard of 2 Crows' Lil' Miguel Stout, I laughed for a good minute as this beer was definitely named after Miguel over at Winnipeg's Kilter Brewing. I knew I had to buy this beer when I was ordering beer off 2 Crows website a few months ago. For those in Winnipeg, you can now get Lil' Miguel at Quality Beer Store!

Lil' Miguel is an Aztec Stout canned on Nitro. This batch's was released on 12/11/2019 and changes from batch to batch. The ingredients are barley, wheat, hops, water, yeast, cocoa, cinnamon, ancho, pasilla & morano, vanilla, milk sugar. 7.1% ABV

From looking at the ingredients, I think this could be a bit reminiscent of Kilter's ¡Jajaja! Stout, so I'm looking forward to reviewing it (I've tried this prior to the review though).

One thing on the label is that they tell you to pour this beer aggressively, so I guess you gotta!

Appearance: Pitch black with a bit of a cola brown hue to it. The head has a good amount of thick bubbles with a burnt caramel hue to it but diminishes pretty quickly. There's a thin amount of head once it diminishes, bit of a creamy appearance. I was kind of scared that the beer would overflow from the glass from pouring it aggressively but really didn't have any issue.

Aroma: Sweet stout with a lot of a milk forward presence to it. Light amount of roasted malt to give it a bit of coffee to it, notes of cocoa nibs and a subtle spiciness at the end from the peppers. I would've liked to see the peppers be significantly more dominant.

Taste: The peppers pop out in the very first sip this time around, as well as cocoa and lactose. The peppers give off a vegetal spiciness right from the beginning but it has very minimal heat to it that only really shows up at the beginning and diminishes pretty quickly. There's a decent amount of cinnamon in the beer to give it a bit of an autumn/winter vibe to it. The stout is very thin and watery for mouthfeel, I'd like it to be a bit heavier and thicker.

Overall Thoughts: Does pouring this beer aggressively help? I poured this like a normal beer a few weeks ago and poured it aggressively this time around - I don't notice any difference, though the spice of the peppers is slightly amped up more this time around but not as much as I'd want - I love a stout with a medley of chocolate, cinnamon and peppers - it's like a boozy Mexican hot chocolate. As it warms up I do get more of the spiciness but by then I'm almost done the beer. It's 30C out but definitely drinkable in this heat.

https://www.2crowsbrewing.com/shop/lil-miguel